Wikipedia:Mahfouz did not shrink from controversy outside of his work. As a

consequence of his outspoken support for Sadat's Camp David peace treaty with Israel in 1978, his books were banned in many Arab countries until after he won the Nobel prize.

Like many Egyptian writers and intellectuals,

Mahfouz was on an Islamic fundamentalist "death list".

He defended Salman Rushdie after Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini condemned Rushdie to death in 1989, but also criticized his Satanic Verses as "insulting" to Islam. Mahfouz believed in freedom of expression and although he did not personally agree with Rushdie's work, he did not believe that there should be a fatwa condemning him to death for it. He also condemned Khomeini for issuing the fatwa, for he did not believe that the Ayatollah was representing Islam.

In 1989, after Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini's fatwa calling for Salman Rushdie and his publishers to be killed, Mahfouz called Khomeini a terrorist.[4] Shortly after Mahfouz joined 80 other intellectuals in declaring that "no blasphemy harms Islam and Muslims so much as the call for murdering a writer."[5]

The Rushdie incident also provoked fundamentalist Muslims to regret not having made an example of Mahfouz, one telling a journalist:

If only we had behaved in the proper Islamic manner with Naguib Mahfouz, we would not have been assailed by the appearance of Salman Rushdie. Had we killed Naguib Mahfouz, Salman Rushdie would not have appeared.[6]

17 comments:

What great photos and such a picturesque cafe!My favorite is in my home town in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. I just saw on this last trip that they moved around the block from their old location and it looks a little more hip now...but the crazy Italian crowd is there all the same! It's name is La Prima Espresso

I have had the works of Naguib Mafouz, Palace Walk, Palace of Desire and Sugar Street in my library for years, along with writers examining women's experiences in India and China as well as Egypt. All of this began with Jan Goodwin's "Price of Honor" in 1994, in which Muslim women lift the veil of silence on the Islamic worlds of Iraq, Iran, Saudi Arabia, northern Africa and Indonesia.

I remember the almost blinding, impotent fury with which women in the West responded to these works and how we were completely ignorant of such behaviors. It caused us to question and protest the ways in which our government did business with countries that abused women (and children) in this way. We still do.

Your pictures of this bazaar literally put a face on the descriptions in this literature, especially the wooden, three sided, porches jutting out from the stone building walls. What are those called? I remember how sad I felt for women who only had this tiny view of the outside world. Also, how intriguing were the descriptions of how vastly different the inside of these homes were, filled with light and color, life on the roofs, etc.

There is so much we do not know about Muslim women and their lives in these closed societies. This literature and your pictures are just wonderful in providing a glimpse into that world. Thank You!

I loved your photos of that cafe and thanks for sharing the story about Mahfouz - he certainly was a remarkable man if he was able able to defend Salman Rushdie's right to free expression even though he didn't approve of his ideas! A fair example!

Hi Blogitse! March has arrived and maybe this awful winter will be gone from thi part of the world... I don't drink coffee, but used to go to cafés when they were places to meet and discuss... Should have seen this one, but it was too short the time at Khan Khalili... ;)

Meanwhile, Blogtrotter 2 is still in Haiti, now at Malfini Beach. Hope you enjoy and have a great week!!

SUSUThat cafe is full of history, it has the feeling of the old days...

BGI visited their blog but there are MANY of those cafes in Pittsburhg!

KEATSThat is a nice place to relax and enjoy bazaar feeling around...

LINDAI'm sorry but I don't know the name.Egypt is not as closed as Saudi Arabia. Actually they are totally different. Even if there's a lot to fix and woman's position is not like in West their situation is much better than in SA - I mean they can drive a car etc.And again it's up to a family and traditions how tight they are with 'scarf rule' etc.Modern, educated city women don't generally wear a scarf, generally.

I have Mahfouz's book Midaq Alley. After reading that walking around the bazaar and sitting in the cafe I had a special 'connection feeling' to the history of the place...

SIROKKOAll the mirrors inside were too much for me - we sat outside and that was great!That cafe is a historical and most of the tourists visit there - not only for men! :)

NICOLENot only for men! It's a very famous tourist spot...

NATHALIEI'm happy to see you here!If I've understand correctly Mahfouz was ahead of his time.

TROTTERAll those visits with a group are quick and conceivably not possible to visit every corner of that bazaar area...